Xavier Dolan's international sensation I KILLED MY MOTHER debuts in ClevelandWildly praised at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (where it received an eight-minute standing ovation), then never released in America because the U.S. distributor went bankrupt, I KILLED MY MOTHER was the semi-autobiographical debut film by then 20-year-old French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan. (His second and third films are HEARTBEATS and LAURENCE ANYWAYS.) Dolan also stars in this chronicle of the love-hate relationship between a gay 16-year-old and his single mother. The teenager despises her kitschy tastes and old-fashioned values, so escapes into art and his boyfriend. But even though he is incapable of loving his mom, he is also incapable of not loving her. Don’t miss the first Cleveland showing of this major movie when we show it in a 35mm print imported from Canada on Friday or Saturday. Special admission is $10; Cinematheque members $8; age 25 & under $7. No passes, twofers, or radio winners. Here's the trailer.

Maurice Pialat's 1972 WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER: tough love storyNever before released theatrically in the U.S., the 1972 French film WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER is a late New Wave masterpiece from the ferocious, unsparing Maurice Pialat. The movie charts a long-term, on-again/off-again love affair between a failed, married, middle-aged filmmaker and his 24-year-old mistress who still lives with her parents. This naturalistic (and semi-autobiographical) work depicts a relationship of unsettling volatility and brutality. Jean Yanne and Marlène Jobert star. The Village Voice proclaimed this release "an opportunity for a new audience to discover one of the great lions of international cinema [Pialat].” Revered French critic Michel Ciment notes that “[Pialat] raises his film to the level of great art.” See WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER in a new 35mm color print on Thursday or Saturday. Print this email and present it at the box office and pay only $7 ($5 if you're a Cinematheque member). It's our Deal of the Week! (Limit two discount admissions per print-out).

Pierre Étaix series of French comedies continues with THE SUITORPierre Étaix’s first feature THE SUITOR (1962) finds the French comic playing a shy and studious young man who is urged by his mother to marry. Knowing nothing of romance or courtship, he proposes to the first available woman he sees, his family’s Swedish au pair, but she does not understand what he’s saying. So he leaves the house to observe and learn the ways of love, and gets involved with a string of unsuitable women. The Holt Foreign Film Guide calls THE SUITOR "the most successful feature by Étaix." You can see it on Friday or Saturday in a new, restored 35mm print. It will be preceded at showtime on both nights by Étaix and Jean-Claude Carrière’s "Rupture" (1961), an 11-min. comedy about a man who receives a “Dear John” letter.

Keaton silent comedy series continues with BUSTER KEATON'S TWO-REEL COMEDIES, PROGRAM 2Four more hilarious Buster Keaton silent two-reelers, made before the star and director turned his attention to features, will be seen on Thursday and Friday in BUSTER KEATON’S TWO-REEL COMEDIES, PROGRAM 2. This show includes: "Neighbors" (1920; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which a high wooden fence won’t stop acrobatic Buster from seeing his beloved girlfriend in the tenement next door; "The Haunted House" (1921; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster plays a disgraced bank clerk involved with thieves and counterfeiters; "Hard Luck" (1921, co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which a suicidal man regains his confidence after a series of hunting and fishing adventures; and "The Goat" (1921; co-directed by Malcolm St. Clair), in which Buster is mistaken for escaped convict “Dead Shot Dan.” All will be shown in 35mm prints with music tracks. Bring the kids or grandkids!

This Week:

Thu., June 6, at 5:45pmFri., June 7, at 7:15pmFour silent shortsBUSTER KEATON'S TWO-REEL COMEDIES, PROGRAM 2

Thu., June 6, at 7:30pmSat., June 8, at 9:00pmMaurice Pialat'sWE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER